The Power of Choice

I want this blog to enable people to take some control of their life. Some of it might sound harsh and you might not like the parts that you feel are a reflection of you. But take it all on board and try and allow this to help you become the person you want to be. A little truth doesn’t hurt ;-)

I will start with the power of choice. 

Now, I fully accept some things in life are completely out of our control. That’s just how it is and accepting these things is essential for a happy life. Sometimes they aren’t very nice, and it’s ok to feel upset about them at the time. But after that, you make choices that influence how you proceed with your life. You can choose to be upset and give excuses and reasons for this or you can choose to pick yourself up and take steps toward happiness again.

When you fully realise this, and decide to make the choices that will bring you happiness, you become a very powerful person. If you don’t, then that is your choice. So when you fall into that rut of sadness and blame the world for everything, that has been your choice. You have chosen to do that to yourself. No one else can control that, so you can’t blame anyone else. Take responsibility.

I am saying that like it isn’t ok to feel sad or let things affect you negatively. But this is not what I mean. I am just trying to point out that you and only you can change your mindset through daily small choices to rectify that. It may take time and effort, but the ball is in your court always.

This is not the only area where the power of choice is relevant though, what about the choices you make every day in ‘normal’ daily life? Most you don’t even think about. You don’t give a second thought. Some you will make and actually not be happy about. But you make them because you feel you should or you are just stuck in a vicious cycle of choices that you once made and have let become a bad habit.

Well here is a thought, STOP FUCKING MAKING THEM!! Take a stand and choose to say no or to do something different that benefits you and puts a bloody smile on your face! Do it once, and you’ll do it again. The power that comes with making a choice that takes something negative out and puts something positive in will be something you want to feel again and again.

There is nothing more powerful than making choices that make you a happier, healthier, better person. Taking steps through choices will allow you to be the person you want to be.

The Small Ones are The Big Ones

Most people think of tiny, small choices as insignificant. This is very inaccurate! A single choice in a moment feels like nothing. Something such as choosing to walk to the shop instead of drive for example. But choosing to be the person that does this action is a statement toward the person you want to be. And repeating this choice the next time, and the time after that, and every time after that has helped to create a very powerful habit that benefits your health every time you repeat it. Not such a small, insignificant choice anymore.

And that is exactly what you need to do to become the version of yourself you want to be. Repeat these small daily choices that allow us to take tiny steps toward becoming that person. In a single day it might only be 10 small positive choices. In a year though, we have made 3650 positive choices and steps toward that version of ourselves we see in our head.

Imagine if your choice was to read 10 pages of a book every day instead of scrolling mindlessly through socials (personal choice this one). How much could you learn in a year?!

And what about choosing to go for a 30 minute walk on your lunch break every day? You’ll suddenly be doing a number of hours of activity per week. Then you make a small choice of listening to a podcast of interest and you’re also learning during what was once a completely wasted time. HUGE self development through tiny choices.

As a final example, imagine choosing to be present in the moments. Putting your phone away for a dedicated time so you can spend time with family. Switched off from the world, even just for half an hour a day, to be completely present. Talk, listen, pay attention. This will give you time that is priceless and missed far too often in today’s world.

These are tiny examples and I could give you a thousand more. Reflect on the person you want to be and consider the first tiny choice you can make that will take a step toward that. Then action it, make it routine, let it become a habit and start to work on the next thing. Once something is formed as a habit, you don’t need to think about doing it anymore, it just happens.

Accountability

Most people don’t like to be accountable for their actions. It’s not my fault I didn’t go to the gym, it’s just raining outside. It’s not may fault I ate all the chocolate, I just had to. It’s not my fault I’m tired, I needed to stay up until 3am to watch GOT…. Just a couple of excuses that were choices made by people. It’s always easier for some reason to find an excuse than to make a choice that takes an action. And when that excuse is made to make a negative choice the pay off is zero. You feel bad about the choice, you feel worse the next day, and it tends to lead to further bad choices.

As an example let me refer to the late nighter watching GOT. Let’s say Dave decides to stay up to be the first person to see the new episode on Sunday night. So he does. And he gets to bed at 4am, sleeps for three hours, then gets up to work. Dave’s choice now impacts every other choice he makes that day. He’s tired so this leads to the following choices; more caffeine than needed, high sugar/high calorie snacks to try and feel more awake, skipped the gym because he is too tired to train, orders takeaway because he couldn’t be arsed to cook, then goes to bed super early and misses some quality family time. He has gone through the day with a poor performance in his job, low mood around his coworkers, and he has upset his family as he didn’t interact well with them once home All this started with one bad choice. Even though Dave feels bad and regrets his decision, he still tries to justify it to himself. It wasn’t Dave’s fault, he needed to see GOT before everyone else… Justifying something like this only allows for it to happen again.

That might seem a bit extreme, but it is a very typical and common occurrence in today’s world.

What Dave needs to do, is take responsibility for his choice and action. He needs to realise it was a bad choice and be accountable for the let downs. This will actually make others respect him and reduce the likelyhood of it happening again.

We are simply a product of a series of choices carried out daily.

We can make them good, smart choices that give us balance, happiness and overall well being, or we can make poor, negative choices moving us away from our goals and visions of who we want to be.

It Starts With a Single Choice

That’s all I have to say on choice. I believe I have covered enough for you to understand what I am getting at.

If you have taken on board what I am trying to say and trying to suggest, great! If you haven’t, maybe you need to reflect and see what series of choices have brought you to this moment in your life.

Are you happy?

Are you healthy?

Are you the person you want to be?

All of these things can be achieved, you just need to start your journey toward them one small choice at a time.

Stevie G